Every year, MLBs non-tender deadline sees clubs allow some of their players who remain under team control to test the open market early, whether it be due to an increasing price tag in arbitration or a need for additional space on the clubs 40-man roster. Earlier this evening, we five hitters from this years crop of non-tendered players who could be worth keeping an eye on this winter. While none of those players can realistically be expected to follow in the footsteps of and , who both re-established themselves as All-Star caliber players following their respective non-tenders, it wouldnt be so shocking to see a player from this years crop of non-tendered arms emerge as a notable player at some point in the future. The best player to be non-tendered last winter was right-hander , who served as the co-ace of the Brewers rotation alongside for years but wound up mi sing the entire 2024 season as he rehabbed from shoulder surgery. stands out as another notable hurler whos been non-tendered in recent memory, and the veteran right-hander has gone on to have a fabulous career after breaking out at the age of 29. Even if no player from this crop of arms reaches the heights Gausman has, finding an impactful reliever or even a quality starter in the non-tender pile is hardly unheard of. Just this past year, both and went from non-tendered in November to pitching for playoff contenders in 2024. Could anyone from this years group of non-tenders follow in their footsteps? Without further ado, lets take a look at five pitchers who hit free agency following last weeks non-tender deadline and could be worth keeping an eye on throughout the coming offseason. Players are listed Jake Arrieta Jersey in alphabetical order, with their age for the 2025 season in parentheses. (33) Finnegans non-tender came as something of a shock, as the right-hander actually made his first career All-Star appearance this year. The righty has been a consistent, stable presence at the back of the Nationals bullpen throughout the rebuild, pitching to a 3.56 ERA (116 ERA+) overall with a 4.24 FIP and a 23.5% strikeout rate in his 290 1/3 innings of work. Finnegans spent much of his time with the club in the closer role as well, and has racked up 88 career saves in 109 opportunities for a conversion rate of 81%. Finnegans overall performance this year was roughly in line with his career norms, as he posted a 3.68 ERA and 4.24 FIP in 63 2/3 innings of work while racking up 38 saves in 43 opportunities this year. Those frequent save opportunities over the years have increased Finnegans price tag in arbitration, and he was due to make $8.6MM in his final trip through the proce s this winter according to . Aside from the high price tag, one other red flag that may have given the Nationals pause regarding their closer was how he wore down throughout the year. After posting an excellent 2.45 ERA and 3.98 FIP in 40 1/3 innings prior to the All-Star break, Finnegans final 24 appearances down the stretch saw him surrender a 5.79 ERA with a 4.71 FIP and a strikeout rate of just 16.4%. Despite that potential sign of trouble, though, Finnegan offers late-inning experience, consistent results, and an upper-90s fastball that should attract plenty of attention this winter. (34) Left-handed relief options are always in demand, and Milner figures to receive attention on the free agent market as a southpaw with previous succe s in the majors if nothing else, even after the Brewers opted to non-tender him rather than pay his projected salary of $2.7MM for the 2025 season. Thats certainly a defensible decision given Milwaukees tight budget and Milners poor results this year. In 64 2/3 innings of work for the Brewers this year, Milner surrendered an ugly 4.73 ERA that was 11% worse than league average by measure of ERA+. With a heater that fails to break 90 mph, Milner hardly garners attention for his stuff, as well. Thats not to say he couldnt be a valuable contributor to a clubs bullpen, however. Rough as Milners 2024 campaign was, the underlying numbers were actually far kinder to the southpaw: He struck out a solid 23.9% of opponents while walking just 5.2%, and virtually every advanced metric was extremely bullish on the leftys performance this year as he posted a 3.14 FIP, a 3.08 SIERA, and a 3.15 in both xERA and xFIP. Milner also enjoyed the highest groundball rate of his career (51.9%), and may have been victimized by a shockingly low strand rate of just 58.1%. Looking at the three years Milner spent as a fixture of the Milwaukee bullpen from 2022 to 2024 paints the picture of a steady left-handed reliever who could improve plenty of bullpens around the league: in 193 2/3 innings during that time, he posted a 3.44 ERA with a 3.14 FIP overall. That track record should garner major league offers this winter, even if his lackluster season this past year may limit his earning potential. (30) Quantrill lands on this list by virtue of being the best bet among all non-tender candidates to make 30 big league starts in 2025. The right-hander found himself moved out of his previous organization in advance of the non-tender deadline for the second consecutive winter last week. After being designated for a signment by the Guardians in the days leading up to the deadline last year, the Rockies swung a trade to add him to their rotation. That experiment went fairly well, as Quantrill pitched to a solid if unspectacular 4.98 ERA (93 ERA+) with a 5.32 FIP. Ugly as those numbers look on paper, given the realities of pitching in Coors Field theyre generally consistent with Quantrills history as a roughly league average fifth starter. The right-hander enjoyed a breakout campaign during the 2020 season that was split between Cleveland and San Diego, where he pitched to a 2.25 ERA in 32 innings while working out of the bullpen. He was used as a swing man in Cleveland the following year, and continued to dominate as he posted a 2.89 ERA (despite a pedestrian 4.07 FIP) in 149 2/3 innings of work in 2021. From 2022 onwards, he settled in as a permanent fixture of the rotation and has been a consistently average back-of-the-rotation arm with a 4.35 ERA (96 ERA+) and 4.68 FIP in 80 starts. Averaging more than 26 starts per year with a roughly league average ERA should be enough to earn Quantrill a look from a rotation-needy team this year, though its also po sible a team could have interest in seeing if he can post stronger numbers out of the bullpen like he did earlier in his career. (32) Romano was perhaps the non-tendered that garnered the most attention in the aftermath of last weeks non-tender deadline. A two-time All-Star, Romano has been the Blue Jays closer throughout the majority of their recent competitive window. From 2020 to 2023, the right-hander spun an incredible 2.29 ERA in 200 2/3 innings of work with a 30.8% strikeout rate and a 3.13 FIP. Among relievers with at least 160 innings of work during that time, Romano ranked third by ERA behind only and . Unfortunately, the wheels came off completely for the righty in 2024 as he was shelled for 10 runs in 13 2/3 innings before undergoing arthroscopic elbow surgery that wound up ending his season. Terrible as Romanos 2024 campaign was, its hard to imagine him not generating significant interest this winter. The right-hander was projected for a $7.75MM salary in his final trip through arbitration this winter, and it wouldnt be a shock to see him land a similar deal in free agency if multiple clubs see him as a potential buy-low solution in the ninth inning given his strong numbers and 105 career saves in 113 chances (89% conversation rate). Romanos market naturally still figures to be hampered at least to some extent by not just his struggles in 2024 but also questions surrounding his health. While hes expected to be ready for Spring Training and have a normal offseason following his surgery this summer, some level of trepidation from clubs is to be expected after any elbow procedure. (28) Sandoval stands as both the youngest player on this list and the one most likely to find succe s as a mid-rotation starter or better in the big leagues at some point in the future. The left-hander was traded from the Astros to the Angels as the return for catcher back in 2018, and the southpaw was in the big leagues the following year. While it took some time for Sandoval to get settled into the majors, he found succe s in a half season of work out of the rotation in 2021 and managed to build upon that with a breakout season the following year. In 2022, Sandoval pitched to an excellent 2.91 ERA with a 3.09 FIP in 148 2/3 innings of work. He struck out 23.7% of opponents and combined that with an excellent 47.4% grounder rate. Unfortunately, Sandovals performance has slipped since then. 2023 was a step backwards for the lefty, as he posted a solid but relatively pedestrian 4.11 ERA (109 ERA+) with a 4.18 FIP in 144 2/3 innings of work. His strikeout rate dropped to just 19.3% that year, while his walk rate skyrocketed to 11.3%. Things took a turn for the worse this year, as he was shelled to the tune of a 5.08 ERA acro s 16 starts before undergoing Tommy John surgery back in June. That will leave him out of action until at least the second half of 2025, and that layoff combined with Sandovals recent lackluster performance made the Halos decision to part ways with him somewhat unsurprising. Even so, with Sandoval not scheduled to hit free agency until after the 2026 season, it wouldnt be a surprise to see a club snap the lefty up on a two-year deal and be glad he did if he can revert to something closer to his 2022 form once hes back on the mound. Mark Prior Jersey